Editing Afroasiatic languages (section)

===Timeline===
There is no consensus as to when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=252}} The absolute latest date for when Proto-Afroasiatic could have been extant is {{circa|4000 BCE}}, after which Egyptian and the Semitic languages are firmly attested. However, in all likelihood these languages began to diverge well before this hard boundary.{{sfn|Gragg|2019|p=43}} The estimations offered by scholars as to when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken vary widely, ranging from 18,000{{nbsp}}BCE to 8,000{{nbsp}}BCE.{{sfn|Meyer|Wolff|2019|p=252}} An estimate at the youngest end of this range still makes Afroasiatic the oldest proven language family.{{sfn|Nichols|2003|p=300}} Contrasting proposals of an early emergence, Tom Güldemann has argued that less time may have been required for the divergence than is usually assumed, as it is possible for a language to rapidly restructure due to [[language contact|areal contact]], with the evolution of Chadic (and likely also Omotic) serving as pertinent examples.{{sfn|Güldemann|2018|p=311}}